I don’t care much about the politics of United States involvement in Syria. If anything, I’m glad there’s a call for debate among the people we’ve elected to represent us. I’ve got a weird trusting distrust in that process that I think a lot of American’s have. I believe that one way to keep our democracy working is by continually forcing it to work.
In the past few weeks I’ve invested a ton of my energy in Open.
Open is a series of open-source-styled youth ministry training events that I dreamt about for nearly 2 years and was finally able to launch last Fall. When we launched it we quickly learned that it wasn’t just a dream I had… but a dream of a lot of people. Consequently, it’s grown way faster than I’d planned on.
Here’s a short description from the manifesto:
So, you’re leading a small group this school year in the youth ministry? That’s so cool. Whether it’s your first season or your 35th thanks for investing in the lives of teenagers. It might not seem like it every week, but it makes a huge difference.
Here are a few of my favorite tips for small group leaders.
There’s a lot of leadership language flying around church circles these days.
I’m at the point where I find the irony too much to bear.
My definition of a leader is, “Someone who takes you where you otherwise wouldn’t go alone.”
I loved Rhett’s talk at The Summit last fall. He and his book struck such a chord with me personally and I heard lots of feedback from people in attendance who felt the same way.
When I think about anxiety and other issues that we’re hearing more and more about in regards to teenagers I’m wondering: Is it that these things always existed and we’re just now better understanding them? Or is it that something has changed within us as a society which is making us more anxious, depressed, and attention deficient?
And the conspiracy theorist is me wonders: Are we simply aware of it because there’s a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical industry that profits when they educate people that they might have something for which they conveniently have a $40 per dose pill to treat?
Probably a little of each, eh?
Can I share a little secret about being an entrepreneur?
So what are my keys to making it? I’m 3-0 in start-ups, batting 1.00 lifetime in a role most people fail.
YouTube is the #3 website in the world behind Google and Facebook. A YouTube visitor is likely to visit 14 different videos each day and watch 24 minutes.
I’ve been engaged in various forms of social media since AOL chat rooms in 1994. And I’ve never seen a more dangerous application targeting teenagers, specifically girls, than SnapChat.
The premise of SnapChat is simple. You take a picture, send it to a friend, and they can only see it for up to 10 seconds before it’s deleted.
And that’s where the lie begins.
I want to be blunt. My goal for this post is to motivate you to delete SnapChat from your phone.
It’s Wednesday afternoon. I’ve got one eye on finishing up my work, one eye on the clock so I don’t forget to pick up the kids from school, and another eye on a lesson I’m supposed to teach at youth group.
The problem is that I only have two eyes. There’s only one of me. And as much as I love investing in the lives of teenagers– I mean that’s what my whole life is about– I catch myself muttering this phrase: This better be worth it.
The Saturday morning session at The Summit last year was the strongest single session of any event I’ve ever attended. (And I’ve been a part of a few events) I remember leaning over to Marko and saying… “I’ve paid way more money to attend events that weren’t nearly this good.” It was that good.
Ben Chestnut’s talk is so important for leaders. He’s not just talking about this stuff out of an ethereal or academic perspective, he’s talking about it as the CEO of one of tech’s most healthy, creative, and on constantly innovative companies: MailChimp.
He dives into one of leaderships most challenging questions: How do I foster an environment that is insanely creative, moves faster than the marketplace, and sustainable so it doesn’t burn people out or run out of cash.